Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Executive summary: spend ten dollars more and get the Snackmaster model instead. I've got a Snackmaster FD-50 that I bought a year or so ago, and more recently my sister picked up a Ronco FD5, so I've had a chance to compare the two, side-by-side. Buy the FD-50, not the FD5. Details follow. First, the Ronco FD5 is slower. It takes up to twice as long to dry food as the Snackmaster. This may not seem like a big deal, but it's the difference between being able to dry three batches of apple slices in a single day off, versus only one batch. Second, and more important, the Ronco FD5 does not dry evenly. This is probably because it doesn't have a fan, but it's very annoying. For one thing, it means you need to rotate trays. Regularly. It's no good to set the thing going and then go do other things for four hours; you have to stay close enough that you can monitor it and rotate the trays every hour or so; otherwise the bottom trays get dry, and the top ones don't. Additionally and worse, there is no consistency in dryness from piece to piece within the same tray. One piece of fruit will be dry while the piece right next to it is still wet on the surface, let alone in the middle. Not only does this necessitate removing some pieces early and letting others dry longer, but, worse, it also means checking each piece for dryness (by tearing to see if there are moisture droplets inside) before removing it from the dryer. With my Snackmaster 50, I can just tear one or two of the thickest pieces on any tray, and if they are dry, I know all the fruit is dry on all the trays, and there is no need to rotate trays. Finally (and this is a smaller issue), the bottom of the Ronco model is open to the coil, so that when (not if) you're rotating the trays or removing dry pieces and some pieces drop through the trays by mistake, getting them out means reaching past the heating coil, which is a minor annoyance but one that you will encounter frequently. The Snackmaster's base is covered, except for the central fan area, making this largely a non-issue. All told, you will spend a lot more time babysitting the Ronco; the Snackmaster is a much more hands-off proposition. The ten dollar price difference does not in my opinion justify the extra aggravation and time investment required to use the FD5.